What do YOU say after You've heard bad news from the Doctor? "I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing, I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu. And I loved deeper, And I spoke sweeter, And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying, And (then you say) he said, "Someday I hope you get the chance, To live like you were dying."

Written by Tim Nichols and Craig WisemanSung by Tim McGraw

To-Do list: -learn to play the guitar -go sky diving -see Machu Picchu in Peru -cycle through Europe -walk my daughters up the aisle at their wedding -hold a grand-child in my arms -write a bestselling novel -publish an award winning photo -date a Famous Hollywood Actress

Done list:-have amazing children -have amazing parents -walked up the Eiffel Tower -climbed to the top of a mountain in the Rockies (Moose Mountain) -flew in a Glider -flew through the mountain peaks in a 4 seat Cessna -visited Rome -toured the USA by car (1/2 done) -danced around like a crazy fool dressed up as Captain Canada -etc...etc....

The book I purchased at the Country Music Museum was written by the writers of this song. It is an inspirational book that was written as the authors state..."This song told us it was a book that we would write long before we wondered if we knew how to write a book or who would publish it."

Tim McGraw wrote the forward to the book and what he says about the song is this..."Each person has his or her definition of what it means to "live like you were dying."I would love to copy every word from this book and have every single one of you memorize them....and LIVE them! But I can't...and I won't. Why? Because you've all already seen them and read them and might...Yes, MIGHT, already be living them. Most of you see these words in the emails that get passed around every week...or passed around Facebook...or see them posted on a bulletin board at work. Sometimes they come with amazing pictures...cute babies...kittens. The words are different...the message the same. Say "I LOVE YOU" more often. Forgive someone. Say "YES" instead of "NO". Take that chance. LEAP! Failure is just a chance to try again! This book came to me because.....(fill in the blank). If you've read every single one of my blogs you should already know what I would stay.

I am NOT dying. I don't think I am. Even if I was I would have no regrets. I believe I have done some amazing things in my life. The epitaph on my tombstone would be something I would be proud of. At the gates of Heaven Saint Peter would put a pass mark in more boxes then failures. But my life is NOT over. Far from it. My health is giving me more challenges lately. It's all part of the Journey. Every so often small miracles happen as I'll explain later. Not a day goes by where I don't talk to someone who would like to join me on my Journey. My question is, "Why don't you take your own Journey?" And, "Why did I have to wait to get sick to do it?" And finally, "Why wait until you ARE dying?"

A lot of people do, do it. Get on a plane...a train...take that rusted out old jalopy out on the highway and head to Nashville...or Hollywood...or Timbuktu. At 18...25...44 , or 65. Go back to school to get that degree. Learn to play the piano. Fly an airplane. Write that book. What are YOU waiting for?

What's on YOUR To-Do or Dream List?

I feel like I should write something about "Stacy" again. I'm not even sure that's her name. The volunteer at the Museum. Every so often you meet someone and the conversation flows. She was one of those people. That got me thinking about what would happen if I did meet someone during my travels and the "sparks flew"? A friend of mine mentioned that they saw on Oprah the author Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote "Eat, Pray, Love-One Woman's Search for Everything". This woman took off and travelled to various places after a failed relationship and wrote this bestselling novel. I haven't read the book but I checked out her website and in the Q&A section someone asked if she was still with the guy she met during her journey. She is.

I'll probably never hear from "Stacy" again. I do wonder how people start long distance relationships and what happens once they meet and spend more time together.

Small miracles. I had a Vision at the Grand Old Opry.

As a child I had what was called a "lazy eye". For some period of time I had to wear a patch over my good eye so that it would force the "lazy" eye to strengthen. I was a pirate when pirates were NOT in vogue. A plastic eye patch with a rubber band around the back of the head does not make for a cool look. Lucky for me it was not during my teen age years. That corrected, a few years later I fell down the basement stairs and banged the right side of my head on the concrete. Whether that has any correlation to the fact that I have uncorrectable vision in my right eye I don't know, but I think it adds something to the sympathy feelings. It might also explain a few other things about me. As you all can see from the few pictures I post of myself I wear glasses. The lens on the right side is the strongest possible but all it does it make things less blurry. So then, even though the lens on the left side corrects my vision so that things are clear, due to my peripheral vision, things are always somewhat blurry. It's like looking through a window with Vaseline smeared all over it.

My Vision. This is a literal vision, not a spiritual vision. As I was watching the group Restless Heart perform the second song in their set I noticed that my vision was as clear as clear is possible. How was this possible? I looked around and everybody on stage was seen though perfect vision, though corrected with the lenses in my glasses. During the past year or so my eyesight has deteriorated quite a bit when it comes to reading things when I'm wearing my glasses. I'm always squinting above or below the lenses. It also explains the typos in my blog. After staring at the screen for a while my vision is quite blurry. More than usual. I don't know as of yet the meaning of that episode, but I am sure it was a sign of some kind.

Grand Old Opry, Vision-Part II. I mentioned in yesterdays blog about the duet The Wrights. When I saw their name in the program I didn't recognize it. They've been singing together for 10 years and have been married for 6. They've played the club circuit in Nashville for years. They have one album out and the second will be released the day after tomorrow (29th). They played 2 songs at the Opry from their new album. This is where things get freaky. I am positive I've seen them perform the second song in their set before. If the album hasn't been released yet does that mean the song hasn't been played in public before? If that's true then how come I could visualize them playing this song that they wrote before actually seeing them last night?

Finally, this is where my abstract thoughts comes out. Once I wake up from the "pain" in my extremities, I lay awake and my brain goes into overdrive. I can't describe how this sensation in my body feels. Another symptom that's started since my accident is the "ringing" in my ear. The doctor's call it tinnitus. The thing is it's not really a ringing in my ears. It's more like a high pitched short circuit in my head. Something like the sound you hear when you're near high voltage power lines. But different. So one night I start thinking about all my symptoms and how they relate to everything in life. On a side note, did you know that sometimes when they amputate a body part from someone, that individual can often still feel sensations in the parts that are no longer there, as though they were still there. Or something like that. There's a belief "out there" that our bodies are one giant vibrating energy field. At a quantum level we are. Studies have shown that electrical impulses are sent to our brain even before we touch something due to this "energy field" that surrounds us. So my brain that creates all these theories starts correlating the short circuit noise in my head to the "phantom" pains in my extremities. The pains must be phantom because doctors keep on insisting that I am healthy as a horse. Somehow I also think it ties in to my soul. The energy field is somehow tied into our souls. So I have a short circuit to my soul. The "phantom" pain is actually soul pain. My soul is stuck between the physicality of my body on earth and the inspirational life of my soul. Now you get an idea how my brain works. But we're just scratching the surface. My brain has even wilder theories...though they're all stuck in my head trying to get written. Oh! And the "ringing" in my head gets louder the worse my symptoms are.